At Anchor, Acapulco

Arriving in Acapulco harbor at 10:00 last night, we were finally anchored by 11:05 pm – exactly 36 hours after leaving Huatulco on Monday morning.

The 235-mile journey was pleasant, with seas less than 3 feet, winds less than 5 knots, and lots of wildlife for company.

First, it was playing “dodge ball” with the hundreds of sea turtles along the way. Then yesterday morning, we saw splashing in the distance and thought it must have been fish. As we got closer, we found it was a grand ballet of rays (I think mantas, they had that ’57 Chevy grill on the front) leaping up to 10 feet in the air and flapping in unison. Tried to get pictures, but they were too fast and unpredictable.

And at about 5 pm, a lot of splashing and jumping in the distance turned out to be about a dozen dolphins, who rushed over as we got close and played in our bow wake for about 10 minutes. They were the first grey ones we’ve seen since we left Florida – most of our dolphin sightings throughout Central America have been spotted ones. They were so happy – so close that we could hear them “talking” and smell their breath (gives new meaning to “tuna breath.”)

By sunset, we could see Acapulco looming in the distance, and as night fell, the city lit up the whole horizon. We entered the bay at 10:00 pm, and after a couple of tries, set the anchor in the east lobe of the bay, near a tall ship and the navy base.

After an anchor dram (one for each leg) of frozen Absolut Citron, it was lights out, in hopes that the new refrigerator would run all night without draining the batteries. And glory of glories…when Ole got up this morning at 6, he found we can get up to 18 hours of battery life on this new household fridge – about 3 times more run time than the 28-year-old Amana side-by-side we cut out of here last Thanksgiving.

I spent the morning washing the salt crystals off the pilothouse windows, while Ole went below to investigate a transmission leak and intermittent tachometer performance. We plan to haul anchor at noon, take a leisurely cruise of the bay, then make for Zihuatanejo which should be about 20 hours from here.

Underway for Mazatlan…

After almost exactly 22 months, we finally threw off the lines and left Huatulco yesterday. We’re sitting in the pilothouse enjoying the second day of a pleasant 235 miles of our first leg to Mazatlan – hoping to either anchor in Acapulco if we need rest, or complete another 110 miles and drop the hook in Zihuatenejo for a few days.

Last night was magic…only one ship came up on the radar, the sea was like glass, and we got “torpedoed” by iridescent dolphins more than once. This morning there was a spectacular manta ray ballet, and we watched dozens of them leaping by twos to flap up to 10 feet in the air and land with a thwap. All afternoon we’ve been seeing huge turtles…hawksbill and leatherback at least, up to 5 feet long, they raise their heads quizzically as we motor past.

It was hard to leave – Huatulco has been a lovely place to spend time, both for me while Ole’s at work, and for him during his time off.

Marina Chahue had its challenges. The docks are unstable and poorly designed, although about a third of them got rebuilt while we were there. The power was unstable, and the fact they don’t use marine electrical wire in dock construction meant we blew through a set of zincs every 3 month. They use the parking lot as a storage lot for dredge fill and gravel that fills in the potholes after every rainy season, but since it’s dry for 9 months a year, probably half that dust ends up all over the boats, inside and out. The surge inside the marina means having to constantly reset mooring lines. And we were surprised the other day when the marina manager admitted he didn’t know anything about tying up boats.

As disappointing as the marina is, the little town of La Crucecita and all the friends we’ve made here have more than made up for it.

First, there’s Gerry and Chris from Misty Michael, the unofficial “dockmasters” of the place. While Ole was away, they fed me dinner more than once, made sure to introduce me around to the locals, and always made sure I didn’t spend more time alone than was healthy. They treated us like family, and their hospitality and kindness made our stay something we’ll never forget.

And Margarita and Goyo from Paesano…what can we say. They are living embodiments of Joy, taking delight in everything and everyone around them, volunteering for a local foundation that helps indigenous villages with education and health care, and stepping up to offer us help and kindness before we even thought to ask. Their generosity of spirit is more moving than I can say.

We know as we head further north up the Pacific coast, the towns will become more “civilized,” and the marina facilities more posh. But as our first long stay in Mexico, Huatulco has proven to be safe, hospitable, charming, and memorable.

All of our original cruise logs are still on the site in their original format, and can be reached by follwing this link:  Emma Jo Cruise Logs 2007-2010.

We’ll try to be better at updating the site, and we’re going to structure it so that the latest blog posts will appear on this page and titles and tags will show up in the sidebar over there on the left.

We’re both well and healthy, and sitting at Marina Chahue in Huatulco, Mexico.  We’ve been here over a year, and will probably head north to Puerto Vallarta or Mazatlan in early 2012.